This invention relates to a control device for submerged surface cleaning apparatus.
One type of device for cleaning submerged surfaces, such as the floors of swimming pools comprises a cleaning head which is connected by means of a flexible suction hose to the suction side of a filter-pump combination. Liquid flowing through the suction head and along the suction hose powers a device which causes the suction head to move along the submerged surface. In the course of moving along the suction head momentarily detaches itself from the latter surface so that it advances in a stepwise manner.
Suction heads of this kind are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,519. Some of these suction heads tend to move in a straight line and have no facility for changing direction. Ideally a suction head of this kind should move as randomly as possible over a swimming pool surface. Also, if it runs up against a barrier, a mechanism should exist for getting it to move away from that barrier. Random steering would have that effect.
An object of the invention is to apply random steering forces to a suction head in the course of its progress over a submerged surface.